Route du Rhum: Ruyant triumph among the Imoca’s, hair-raising finish for Class 40s

Time for verdicts for the Route du Rhum, which saw the first Imoca 60 arrivals at Point a Pitre today, with Thomas Ruyant‘s victory on Linkedout. The heavily favored Charlie Dalin, after dominating the first part of the race got “surprised” by Ruyant at the entrance to the Trade Winds. Linkedout, Imoca built by Persico Marine of Italy, was about 2 hours ahead of Apivia, and 3 ahead of Jeremie Beyou’s Charal. Giancarlo Pedote is in 20th position with less than 500 miles to go.

Route du Rhum – Italian sailing with bated breath

Needless to say, however, also keeping the attention alive these hours is the final phase of the Class 40 regatta. Yoann Richomme ‘s lead no longer seems in question, and the 100-plus mile margin over his pursuers guarantees him an anxiety-free approach to Guadeloupe. Behind him, however, it is a total tussle: Ambrogio Beccaria and Corentin Doguet are fighting for second and third, with Simon Koster ready to take advantage.

At the last survey Doguet holds second position and has a 5-mile lead over Beccaria, about 650 miles to go. It’s all about the wind swings and the gybes there will be to do in this last phase: the Italian gybed inside delaying the tack change from Doguet by about 1 hour, the Frenchman however nibbled a small advantage by building a somewhat cleaner trajectory. Weighing heavily for Beccaria at this stage is the problem at the wind station: not having the data on direction and intensity will make it complicated on Allagrande Pirelli to find the right sail configuration, in addition to the fact that the autopilot works only in compass mode and does not follow the wind fluctuations by not receiving the data.

Watching with interest the evolution of the top rankings is Alberto Bona on IBSA Group, author so far of a very solid race. The sailor from Turin is in eighth position but in full fight to enter the top 5. He, too, seems to delay the gybe to try to hold the inside compared to his direct opponents, Xavier Macaire, Luke Berry and Antoine Carpentier.

Mauro Giuffrè